Speaker 1: And a plus incodiving everybody and Walcome into the Bears
Speaker 1: Coaching Show with head coach Mattieberflus, Jeff Joni Yak here
Speaker 1: until eight o'clock tonight here on news radio one oh
Speaker 1: five nine w BB. I'm happy to do with you
Speaker 1: talking Bears ball a short week ahead as the Bears
Speaker 1: moving to Dallas to meet the Cowboys. Get he being met.
Speaker 1: How you're feeling, How you're feeling, buddy, We're doing good.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much on short rest verse of all,
Speaker 1: congratulations and I know you're gonna you're gonna thank so
Speaker 1: many people. But I gotta say this was such a
Speaker 1: well prepared and confident football team. I noticed it during
Speaker 1: the week in the locker room. I could see it
Speaker 1: on guys faces, namely justin fields. And you went into
Speaker 1: a difficult venue because the record for Bill Belichick since
Speaker 1: two thousand at home including the playoffs was one fifty
Speaker 1: and thirty five. That's his thirty sixth. But that's incredibly
Speaker 1: difficult to win in that joint. It doesn't matter who's
Speaker 1: playing when, So how good is it feel? Well? You know,
Speaker 1: Coach Belichick's obviously a great coach, and it is a
Speaker 1: tough place to play. The fans that are really good
Speaker 1: and they know when to do their thing and cheer
Speaker 1: and make it hard for that for the offense for sure.
Speaker 1: But I thought our guys did a nice job of
Speaker 1: coming out last week during the mini buy and with
Speaker 1: partnering with their coaches and the players and coming up
Speaker 1: with ways we can improve, you know, individually technique fundamentals,
Speaker 1: and then how we can improve and enhance our players
Speaker 1: inside of our scheme and come up with a real
Speaker 1: good plan. And then we worked the plan. You know,
Speaker 1: we did it during the course of the week. We
Speaker 1: lengthened individual period so the guys had more time to
Speaker 1: work that plan, took it into the team periods, and
Speaker 1: then we took it to the game. So it's really
Speaker 1: about focus and attention to detail with the coaches setting
Speaker 1: up that plan and then the players executing that plan.
Speaker 1: So they did a night's job. Have you noticed a
Speaker 1: difference in their attention to detail players from the beginning
Speaker 1: when you first met with them to where they're at now.
Speaker 1: Because you keep hammering this point home. You you answer
Speaker 1: every question you know that is your answer. There's no
Speaker 1: there's no grey area here. But do you have you
Speaker 1: felt it and seen it yourself. Yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: more of a natural thing. I think the guys have
Speaker 1: been focused. I think they have paid attention, and I
Speaker 1: think it's more time on task. You know, when you
Speaker 1: do something over and over and it's repetitioned concepts that
Speaker 1: we do over and over again, it might look different,
Speaker 1: it might change it up a little bit, but the
Speaker 1: concepts are there and we can continue to coach it
Speaker 1: over and over again and we make it better based
Speaker 1: on what the skill set of that player is. I
Speaker 1: think it's us just knowing the players a little bit better,
Speaker 1: but the player has been been great all the way through.
Speaker 1: It's interesting also because I've met many coaches, not just
Speaker 1: in this building, but now there are some are concerned
Speaker 1: about fresh messaging to keep the guys attentive. Is your
Speaker 1: messaging doesn't need to be fresh? There is one message. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would just say it's simple. You know, winning football
Speaker 1: is winning football. It really comes down to a few things.
Speaker 1: You know, it comes down to a few things, and
Speaker 1: all the old time coaches have said it all the
Speaker 1: way through. You know, it's about blocking and tackling and
Speaker 1: not making mistakes, and that's really what we're all about,
Speaker 1: you know, we want to make sure that we're doing that,
Speaker 1: but you have to see it on the practice field first.
Speaker 1: You can talk about it, but it's just words until
Speaker 1: they can, you know, put him into action on the
Speaker 1: practice field. And we have to be mindful of that
Speaker 1: his coaches to make sure we're watching the tape, you know,
Speaker 1: with a critical eye, getting the feedback to the players
Speaker 1: so they can improve. You are uniquely tethered to the
Speaker 1: history of the game. You say it all the time.
Speaker 1: I think you have a great deal of respect for
Speaker 1: things that happen in the game. Hey, we don't do
Speaker 1: that here that that's not respecting the game. So when
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick and I know you're gonna keep it private,
Speaker 1: but I know you alluded to it in the press conference,
Speaker 1: and you know, when Bill Belichick embraces you and you
Speaker 1: guys have a long chat and he's suggesting that you're
Speaker 1: doing this the right way, it's affirmation a little bit
Speaker 1: right because he's a legendary coach and no matter what
Speaker 1: people have opinions about that, how he's gone about it
Speaker 1: has been nothing but success. How does that make you
Speaker 1: feel as a first time head? Well, as I said before,
Speaker 1: coach Belichick has always done things the right way in
Speaker 1: terms of winning football. You know, he understands how to
Speaker 1: play complimentary football. His defensive units has always been stellar.
Speaker 1: His offensive system has really looked at and really enhanced
Speaker 1: the skill level of his players, and he's played to that.
Speaker 1: And so when you get a compliment like that from
Speaker 1: coach Belichick, who's a Hall of Famer, um, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool, you know. And uh and special teams
Speaker 1: I mean and special teams units are how he's good too, Yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt. And he really all he really said was, hey, uh,
Speaker 1: he was complimentary of us, of our style and the
Speaker 1: way we're going about our business and what we're building
Speaker 1: here with the Bears. So, um, it was it was.
Speaker 1: It was a good moment. One brick at a time, right,
Speaker 1: one brick at a time, paving that road. That's what
Speaker 1: you got to do. All right, Let's talk about the
Speaker 1: offensive game plan. Luke getsy quarterback draw quarterback power, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, countertrait with the two. I mean, I loved it.
Speaker 1: Just it was you never knew it was coming next
Speaker 1: from a broadcaster or a fan point of view. So
Speaker 1: I can imagine how the defense fell for New England. Yeah, so, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Luke got with the staff, you know, with
Speaker 1: Simo and the rest of the staff there and kind
Speaker 1: of came up with some creative ways to use Justin.
Speaker 1: You know, he's one of our better players on the field. Um,
Speaker 1: he's one of our faster players on the field, So
Speaker 1: how can we utilize him? You know, uh inside, you know,
Speaker 1: run and inside and running outside and then creating his heat.
Speaker 1: He's always going to create some scramble situations during the
Speaker 1: course of the day. But I thought the guys did
Speaker 1: a great job with that during the minute. But I've
Speaker 1: come up with some creative ways to keep the ball
Speaker 1: in the hands of our of our athlete and our quarterback.
Speaker 1: It's always interesting to me to look back at some
Speaker 1: of the quotes from the opposing players after a game
Speaker 1: and with the with the trip back last night, had
Speaker 1: a chance to read some of it. But one really
Speaker 1: stuck out was Matthew Judano I have respect for as
Speaker 1: a player. Uh, we had no answer for Justin And
Speaker 1: that's the greatest compliment right there. No matter what you're devising,
Speaker 1: they had no answer. They didn't they didn't they didn't
Speaker 1: get it done from their perspective. Justin also exuded that
Speaker 1: last night the poison the confidence. I mean, guys were
Speaker 1: rushing at him when he was on the move and
Speaker 1: he was still, He's looking and he was not threatened
Speaker 1: by those potential hits and he didn't take many hits. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not bad ones couple. I would say that, you know what,
Speaker 1: you know, I think coach gets He said it before,
Speaker 1: and I think it's true. It's just really about experience.
Speaker 1: You know, he has to have experience in that pocket
Speaker 1: presence and that comes with the experience of in the games,
Speaker 1: you know, because in practice obviously we can't you know,
Speaker 1: he's not getting hit and we're not going to touch
Speaker 1: him in practice. But he really gets that through game
Speaker 1: experience and you can just see him getting better and
Speaker 1: better every week. There's so much to break down. With
Speaker 1: a big win like this, we're not going to have time.
Speaker 1: But the point also is there's still things to fix
Speaker 1: on every single play, little nuances that ye're going to
Speaker 1: dive into. I'm sure. Yeah, we went through all the
Speaker 1: tape and I had the meeting with the coordinators this
Speaker 1: morning what we need to improve on, So we got
Speaker 1: to really implement those things through our study of the
Speaker 1: tape with the players, and it's going to be shorter
Speaker 1: this week, so we got to make some cut ups
Speaker 1: for each guy so he can improve and they really
Speaker 1: move forward to Dallas. There's a lot of talk about
Speaker 1: the middle eight, certainly from Bill Belichick, I know, Green Bay,
Speaker 1: I'm sure all coaches, but it's the final four minutes,
Speaker 1: so the first half, first four minutes of the second half,
Speaker 1: you guys own that was that the turning point? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought it was. I thought we did a good
Speaker 1: job in that middle eight. And you know, it's always
Speaker 1: about you know, setting that up, you know, So it's
Speaker 1: it's we talk about it a lot, we practice it,
Speaker 1: and it's important that we're executing during those times and
Speaker 1: thirteen points there to end the first half a touchdown
Speaker 1: to two field goals and then come out strong to
Speaker 1: finish the job. It's going twenty three unanswered in the
Speaker 1: thirty three to fourteen went over the Patriots in New England.
Speaker 1: Next up a trip to a big D to take
Speaker 1: on the Dallas Cowboys. Montgomery now slides out to the
Speaker 1: right side, number empty spread. They pick it. The Jones
Speaker 1: keeper fields cuts inside, look it for the goal line
Speaker 1: into the end zone for the touchdown. Talk to the
Speaker 1: left side of the line. Bears are on the board.
Speaker 1: What's six more? Three? Art keeper Justin Fields, Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Bears Coaching Show with Mattyberflus. The touchdown run
Speaker 1: by Justin Fields his second touchdown. I think he now
Speaker 1: has twenty five rushing first downs. That is third in
Speaker 1: the league. Daniel Jones up at the Giants and then
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson and Justin in our postgame show, suggested that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he looked at some Baltimore tape some ideas. I know,
Speaker 1: they gave trouble for the Patriots early in the season,
Speaker 1: so hey, why not. There's only a handful of great
Speaker 1: running quarterbacks in this league. But that's a lot of
Speaker 1: first downs already for a Justin Fields. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: it goes back to the offensive staff, you know, and
Speaker 1: then Justin buying into it. You know. I really think
Speaker 1: they do a good job of looking at the scheme
Speaker 1: and during the mini buy and really enhancing his skill
Speaker 1: and you know, and what can he do well? I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously he's very fast, he's very elusive, and he creates
Speaker 1: another dimension for the defense to be able to handle.
Speaker 1: You couldn't ask any better a third down eleven of eighteen,
Speaker 1: eleven of eighteen, but sixty one percent ledging out to
Speaker 1: the top I guess of the season. Time of possession
Speaker 1: thirty seven minutes plus, So you only had twenty six
Speaker 1: total conversions in the first six games to get eleven.
Speaker 1: That laid right into your plans too, to just kind
Speaker 1: of possess the ball as much as possible, and you
Speaker 1: scored the ball. Yeah, yeah, So really we talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, during this you know time of really focusing
Speaker 1: on situationational football, how can we improve on third down?
Speaker 1: And third down is an important down, you know obviously
Speaker 1: when you're when you're moving the ball on first and
Speaker 1: second down, but then when you get to those critical
Speaker 1: third downs, in those drives, you have to convert. And
Speaker 1: we did a nice job with that the other day,
Speaker 1: and we did it by a couple of different ways,
Speaker 1: by just simple execution, but also by an untimed type
Speaker 1: of situation where he dropped back and he took off
Speaker 1: on the third and sixteen. There's a lot of them
Speaker 1: in there. There's probably three or four of them that
Speaker 1: he converted with his legs just breaking the pocket down
Speaker 1: and then taking off, and then also finding some guys open,
Speaker 1: you know, down the field, which is great to see
Speaker 1: because he's keeping his eyes down the field for that
Speaker 1: pass option as well. What's the CounterPunch now, because now
Speaker 1: that you have some design runs for him, that as
Speaker 1: a new element of course, and a lot of confidence
Speaker 1: with him doing that, and maybe they already have our
Speaker 1: team is maybe going to go to a spy a
Speaker 1: little bit and then what do you how does that
Speaker 1: open things up for everybody else? Yeah, I mean, you
Speaker 1: know the spy, you know that's more for passing. You know,
Speaker 1: you have to really account for him in the running
Speaker 1: game first, you know, normal downs on first and second down,
Speaker 1: and then that other thing will happen on the passing
Speaker 1: down second, longer, third, and longer where they're gonna try
Speaker 1: to do that. But you're always gonna do that with
Speaker 1: those guys. You know, either you're gonna either create some
Speaker 1: type of rush that does that or you'll actually end
Speaker 1: up get pulling a guy out of there and spying
Speaker 1: them for him. But the guy has to be good
Speaker 1: enough to do it too. All right, let's talk. Defense
Speaker 1: continues to shine in the second half. We touchdown on
Speaker 1: the postgame show with you shut them out on less
Speaker 1: than a hundred yards overall, four takeaways. The three picks
Speaker 1: are huge and in seven games, only thirty four points
Speaker 1: allowed in the second half the season. What is the
Speaker 1: secret sauce here? Yeah, I would we know. We've really
Speaker 1: been focusing on our run defense. That's been a big
Speaker 1: focal point. We've added additional walkthroughs for that. That's been important.
Speaker 1: We've slowed those drills down to make sure the guys
Speaker 1: understand exactly where they fit, so we'll fit the run
Speaker 1: and then we'll make sure they're doing a good job.
Speaker 1: We back it up, rewind it, you know, in a
Speaker 1: walkthrough setting to make sure the guys know exactly where
Speaker 1: they are. And they guys have done a good job
Speaker 1: with that. They've done a decent job with that. Again,
Speaker 1: we're not where we need to be. Yesterday was a
Speaker 1: decent day at three point seven per rush, which is nice,
Speaker 1: but again we have to continue to build on that.
Speaker 1: Special teams outstanding. You kept a dangerous returner and Marcus
Speaker 1: Jones under apps seven total returns punt and kickoff. Not
Speaker 1: a lot of damage done there. You had Dante Petties
Speaker 1: that took advantage of a line drive punt just hit
Speaker 1: the gas and go Sterling Weatherford rookie. People don't know
Speaker 1: a thing about him. A couple of special teams tackles
Speaker 1: and a hillacious hit got me out of my well.
Speaker 1: I stand anyway when I do the game, but I
Speaker 1: had me going crazy there at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: Josh Blackwell trusted Abner, Jack Samborne, dhc All would tackles
Speaker 1: Santos four or four field goals eleven for eleven for
Speaker 1: the season, could you ask? I mean, wow, Other than
Speaker 1: taking the ball away on special teams, it's pretty much
Speaker 1: a home run day. Yeah, and we've done that in
Speaker 1: the past. Yeah, taking the ball away, So you know
Speaker 1: ht you know, Carlos Polk have done a nice job
Speaker 1: with those guys. It's a young crew. You know. We
Speaker 1: have a lot of guys that are young. I think
Speaker 1: in some of those kicking teams we have eight rook
Speaker 1: he's on the field at one time. Um, and they've
Speaker 1: just bought into how we're doing things, you know, really
Speaker 1: the hits principle, the hustle, the intensity of those guys
Speaker 1: and the way they execute um. You know, and they're
Speaker 1: being smart too. Not a lot of penalties on special teams,
Speaker 1: you know, we've had a chance to take the ball
Speaker 1: away to on our cover teams a couple of times,
Speaker 1: so they've bought in all the way and we're continuing
Speaker 1: to work on those guys because they are young. They
Speaker 1: need a lot of fundamental and technique work, um you know,
Speaker 1: on all phases, and those guys are doing a good
Speaker 1: job with that. Essentially though, you're grooming these guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the proving ground. Yeah, it is, it is, and
Speaker 1: it takes it takes you know, speed and athleticism. You know.
Speaker 1: It's this where you know where you know, Poles and
Speaker 1: his staff come into play, bringing those guys in that
Speaker 1: have that speed and athleticism to do the cover teams
Speaker 1: and also have the anchor to be able to protect
Speaker 1: on those protection teams. So um my, hats off to
Speaker 1: them as well. But it's it's a work in progress
Speaker 1: and they're getting better every week and we're excited where
Speaker 1: they're going. Guy, can't forget Trenton Gill has had a
Speaker 1: really good year as well, top ten at times. I
Speaker 1: think he's top twelve right now in net and gross
Speaker 1: punting's he's put some great balls out there for you. No,
Speaker 1: he has, he has and he's been he's been solid.
Speaker 1: He does a lot of other things for us. You know,
Speaker 1: he's the holder, and yeah, he's done a great job
Speaker 1: with that putting the ball down there for Cairo. So
Speaker 1: it's been really nice. If he spread this time, I
Speaker 1: back a pair of receivers left, spread out, three to
Speaker 1: the right. Patriots show blitz. They got a picket fence
Speaker 1: behind him. Quick throw screen Herbert to catch twenty. There
Speaker 1: he goes dead. Nobody's gonna touch him. Hands up, touchdown, touchdown,
Speaker 1: Bears and Fields was whaxed by a couple of the
Speaker 1: Patriots on a beautiful executed pass Fields. The Herbert and
Speaker 1: the Bears are back in front. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Bears Coaches Show with Matt Eberflus. Great seats available to
Speaker 1: see here. Chicago Bears this season at Soldier Field. Get
Speaker 1: your tickets at Chicago Bears dot com slash tickets. Khalil
Speaker 1: Herbert's first career receiving touchdown. It was a beauty. We
Speaker 1: tucked him after the game. He was laughing because there
Speaker 1: was a similar play that didn't connect. Same play, but
Speaker 1: little butt some great EQUIMENTI of Saint Brown, a Black
Speaker 1: Braxton Jones and just north and south like he is
Speaker 1: apt to do, and didn't even get touched. But if
Speaker 1: Justin doesn't drop his arm angle, you know, that pass
Speaker 1: could get bad or whatever. So that was also some
Speaker 1: heady worked there by Justin right on that plane. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know, Justin took the snap and they went
Speaker 1: to thirty immediately and the window wasn't there, you know,
Speaker 1: so he had to double clutch it, changed the arm
Speaker 1: angle and then throw it, you know, into the second window.
Speaker 1: And that was an amazing play by him because it
Speaker 1: took toughness to be so took a pop. He took
Speaker 1: a pop when he did to hesitate because he had
Speaker 1: to hesitate because the window wasn't there, just his arm
Speaker 1: angle through it. And then obviously the blocking on the
Speaker 1: perimeter was excellent. The offensive line, the receivers all the
Speaker 1: way down blocked it, you know, and then Herbert just
Speaker 1: took it north and south, got his pads down and
Speaker 1: did a nice job. All right. So three two hundred
Speaker 1: plus yard games now this season, two forty three yesterday
Speaker 1: and forty five rushes five point four simply outstanding. I
Speaker 1: went through the league. At this point. Right now, there
Speaker 1: are sixteen ball carriers averaging north of five yards of
Speaker 1: carry six or at six point zero including Khalil Herbert.
Speaker 1: There is a I believe an uptick of rushing in
Speaker 1: this league. We're the number one rushing team in the league.
Speaker 1: Your Chicago Bears are the number one rushing team in
Speaker 1: the league right now, fifth in average. Most ever buy
Speaker 1: a Bears team is five point two. You're at that
Speaker 1: right now. There's a lot of great things going on.
Speaker 1: What's with the running game in the league, and specifically
Speaker 1: this is something that you guys feel you do better
Speaker 1: than anything right now. Yeah, I think when you have
Speaker 1: one two punch at running back, that's the number one
Speaker 1: thing you have. An offensive line coach in an offensive
Speaker 1: system that's committed to the running game, has a variation
Speaker 1: of runs inside outside poles, zone, outside zone, all those
Speaker 1: things that we do. It creates a situation for you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of defenses, you know, so you have to
Speaker 1: you have to cover a lot of things, not just people,
Speaker 1: but scheme. And then you add the element of the
Speaker 1: quarterback in there where he can take off and creates
Speaker 1: those runs and the untimed downs. And then also you
Speaker 1: know on the now we have the quarterback type of
Speaker 1: runs that we put in there, and how much we
Speaker 1: use those, I don't know. You know, we'll use We'll
Speaker 1: use some of them with Sprinkleman there. Again, it's all
Speaker 1: based on who we're playing and what we're gonna do
Speaker 1: and how we're gonna do things for that particularly week
Speaker 1: to win the game. But when you have that that
Speaker 1: commitment by the offensive staff and us as Bears in general,
Speaker 1: that that's something that's important to us and the three
Speaker 1: guys that can do it, the two runners and the quarterback. Um,
Speaker 1: that's special for those guys. To mention your fly sweeps
Speaker 1: that you throw in there with Valis Eclamania Saint Brown,
Speaker 1: I mean you could do and and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I love Karrie blasting game. He gets minimal snaps, but
Speaker 1: you had him doing a wham blocks off that that
Speaker 1: was explosive to me. But he hasn't touched the bar
Speaker 1: yet too, and I'm sure it's in there somewhere. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, to be to be good at
Speaker 1: running the football, it is the offensive line, no doubt,
Speaker 1: is the runners, But like you said, it's the guys
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. It's Curry, it's the receiver. Q Eq's
Speaker 1: really mooney, it's it's all those guys. It's pet Us.
Speaker 1: All those guys are the tight ends. Um, you know, Cole, everybody,
Speaker 1: westco all those guys, Griff, they're all doing a great
Speaker 1: job of sustaining. But second effort down the field is
Speaker 1: what creates those bigger type runs and that's what we're
Speaker 1: guys are executing one. All right, now, it's time to
Speaker 1: look ahead. Brought to you by Bette Rivers, the official
Speaker 1: sports book partner with the Bears. Next up the five
Speaker 1: and two Cowboys. They've won five of six. They beat
Speaker 1: the Lions on Sunday. Their defense is is very good,
Speaker 1: the number two scoring defense in the league, and they
Speaker 1: lead the league in sex take it from there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so they have a lot of good players, you know,
Speaker 1: on defense, and they got a good scheme. You know,
Speaker 1: they got they got two defensive ends, Michael Parsons. You know,
Speaker 1: they got the big number ninety there who we had
Speaker 1: when I was in Dallas. Um. Their linebackers are solid,
Speaker 1: really good in the back end, you know. So they
Speaker 1: create some problems and it really starts up front for them.
Speaker 1: They've they've really done a good job really limiting the
Speaker 1: explosive play's limiting the scoring opportunities for offenses, and then
Speaker 1: the offense with a two pronged rushing attack and a
Speaker 1: very good receiver out of the backfield as well, and
Speaker 1: Pollard Ezekiel and Dak Prescott's back Ceedee Lamb tight ends.
Speaker 1: They got they got a lot to throw, they really do,
Speaker 1: and they really do a good job protecting the quarterback.
Speaker 1: You know, they do a nice job with their protections.
Speaker 1: They've limited the number of sacks they've had um, but
Speaker 1: they really rely on their running game. They do a
Speaker 1: nice job with the two headed you know, two headed
Speaker 1: guys there with with Poward and Ezekiel Um. And again
Speaker 1: they do a really good job of their receivers blocking
Speaker 1: of the perimeter. So it's gonna be a tough task
Speaker 1: for us. Good luck with your preparation, all right, Thank you,
Speaker 1: Mattie Reflus. Coming up next, we're joined by Jeff King,
Speaker 1: co player personnel director of the Chicago Bears. Back to throw,
Speaker 1: Mack Jones. Here comes a little pressure throws down the
Speaker 1: field table scared out of the air park arskir one interception,
Speaker 1: what up high one hanger? I believe Tommy had sucked
Speaker 1: it into a belly and Jaquan Brisker in every game
Speaker 1: this season has made a pick play on defense. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Bears Coaches Show. Joining us right now
Speaker 1: is the co player Personnel director of the Bears. My
Speaker 1: good friend, Jeff King. How you doing. What's up, Jeff?
Speaker 1: How are we doing doing? Great? Congratulations? Yeah? When Tuesday? Yes,
Speaker 1: when too? It's right. Victory Tuesday, baby, victory Tuesday. Coach
Speaker 1: has to get ready for the Cowboys on a short week,
Speaker 1: so as we did with Trey Cozio a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. Have you win right here? We just heard
Speaker 1: the tremendous interception by rookie safety Jiquan Brisker. I don't
Speaker 1: know how he leap tall buildings with a single leap
Speaker 1: in one hand. Did that? Bad boy? But he's made
Speaker 1: a play in every game. Yeah, you know he's he's growing, right,
Speaker 1: and that's what you want to see from those guys.
Speaker 1: Him and Kyler both you know back there in the secondary,
Speaker 1: both are growing each week. And he made a great read.
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of a double seam and you
Speaker 1: know he was splitting two. I think he described it
Speaker 1: that way too, and the post game and played it
Speaker 1: right and went up and high pointed, mean, you see
Speaker 1: those guys warm up every every day in practice of
Speaker 1: high point in the football and it was text books.
Speaker 1: Oh really, so something that they work on specifically. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just like a receiver would just right, a receiver would.
Speaker 1: I mean the defense is built off of takeaways and
Speaker 1: you know those guys work on it daily and he
Speaker 1: reaped the fruits of his labor. Yeah, it's kind of
Speaker 1: cool to see Kyler get one there at the end
Speaker 1: to just these little successes build greater confidence with these guys,
Speaker 1: don't there. And we're a young team, you know, I
Speaker 1: mean we're seven games in and you know, these guys
Speaker 1: are getting a little bit better every week. I think
Speaker 1: you see that on offense, defense and special teams, and
Speaker 1: you know you go down the like Sterling Weatherford who
Speaker 1: had some tackles on special teams yesterday. You know, all
Speaker 1: these guys are getting a little bit better every week,
Speaker 1: and you know that's what we have to do. I
Speaker 1: mean it. So I just went over that with coach,
Speaker 1: with the special teams unit, all the rookies making tackles,
Speaker 1: it's seven or eight guys on coverage, and that's that
Speaker 1: makes you a super strong team. If those guys start
Speaker 1: to get their development there. Yeah, and that's where some
Speaker 1: of those guys get their start, right Like it starts
Speaker 1: on special teams. They get a little confident, they get
Speaker 1: a little uh, you know, development and speed of the game,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, now they're showing up
Speaker 1: on defense too. So, um, you know that it's exciting
Speaker 1: to see those guys take a step and excited to
Speaker 1: see the offense come to life, you know, get some
Speaker 1: points on the board, possessed the ball, ran the heck
Speaker 1: out of the ball again, and Justin Fields we touched
Speaker 1: on it in some detail about the design runs. He
Speaker 1: seemed to really enjoy that, and it just he played
Speaker 1: a lot of confident, don't you think. Yeah, And you know,
Speaker 1: all credit to the players obviously, but I thought Luke
Speaker 1: Getsy had a heck of a game, like, you know,
Speaker 1: calling the plays and you know, they kept them off
Speaker 1: balanced for most of the night. And then Justin had
Speaker 1: you know obviously you know, his special plays with you know,
Speaker 1: with the ball in his hands and even as a
Speaker 1: passer too. So I think it was a collective effort
Speaker 1: coaches and players, scheme and guys making plays, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a good night to finally light
Speaker 1: up the scoreboard a little bit. Your job is to
Speaker 1: keep an eye on what's out there at any moment,
Speaker 1: emergency lists and whatnot, but free agency and just player
Speaker 1: personnel in general. So the little victories of Okay, Nikkil
Speaker 1: Harry comes aboard hadn't been able to play because if
Speaker 1: injury gets out of the field, bloom a fourteen yard er.
Speaker 1: I mean that alone probably sent him sky high and
Speaker 1: excited because he's he's really been wanting to get out there. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then we can go down the list. I had
Speaker 1: a conversation last week with armand Watch for the first time.
Speaker 1: You know, a guy that you know was kind of
Speaker 1: surprised he was leaving the Vikings comes here and now
Speaker 1: he worked his way into a starting role. All these
Speaker 1: types of players with a team that's still young. Building
Speaker 1: these pieces is part of your puzzle, isn't it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's part of like opportunity for those guys you know,
Speaker 1: armand and you know nikkiel finally getting you know, after
Speaker 1: getting over the ankle injury and now getting a chance
Speaker 1: to get a you know, consistent role for him on offense.
Speaker 1: And then you go down to you know, justin Jones
Speaker 1: being a full time starter for the first time, and
Speaker 1: you know, his his ability to kind of rek havoc
Speaker 1: in a game. You know, it doesn't always show up
Speaker 1: on the stat sheet, but like he was active all
Speaker 1: all night last night, you know, and morrow the same thing.
Speaker 1: You know, a guy gets his chance. So all those
Speaker 1: guys that maybe have been part time players or you
Speaker 1: know that that are able to step in and have
Speaker 1: a full time role, and then they're no different than
Speaker 1: some of these young guys can They're gonna gain confidence
Speaker 1: and just keep getting growing and getting better too. Harry
Speaker 1: stays out there to the left side numbers. Beyond the numbers,
Speaker 1: Baylas Jones junior slotted left shotgun snap keeper Fields up
Speaker 1: the middle. When he goes down to the ten yard line,
Speaker 1: by design, Justin Fields picks up eight and they got
Speaker 1: the Patriots on their heels falling. All Bears fans get
Speaker 1: the Ultimate VIP fan package with Chicago Bears VIP. Secure
Speaker 1: a game ticket and appearance from Bears legends and more
Speaker 1: by visiting Chicago Bears vip dot com. Here with Jeff King,
Speaker 1: Bears coplayer personnel director, doing a great job. He's been
Speaker 1: here a while. That was one of the design runs
Speaker 1: we talked about. I think, you know, there's all these
Speaker 1: different stat companies are doing stuff. I think next Gen
Speaker 1: Stats at twelve for sixty four on design runs for
Speaker 1: Justin fields. It's somewhere in there for sure. And it's
Speaker 1: the variety that I enjoyed, the types of runs. And
Speaker 1: he even seeing the old countertrait that they're pulling the
Speaker 1: right tackle Larry Borman pulling the right guard Devin Jenkins.
Speaker 1: The clear outs pay a lot of good things. Alluding
Speaker 1: to what you said just a moment ago in the
Speaker 1: first segment with you about the game plan by Luke KETSI, yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think that when you have a quarterback at
Speaker 1: Justin skill set right like, you know, when you have
Speaker 1: to account for him as a runner, you get an
Speaker 1: extra guy, you gain an extra guy and at the
Speaker 1: point of attack as a blocker. So um, you know,
Speaker 1: I thought it was a great job by Luke. Um,
Speaker 1: you know. And and you know, I think Justin kind
Speaker 1: of got his guy. His juice is flowing too. I
Speaker 1: think that helped, you know, get him settled in, get
Speaker 1: his you know, get some plays under his belt and
Speaker 1: some success and then you know that kind of you know,
Speaker 1: filtered through the rest of the night, you know. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know I thought it was a good job by
Speaker 1: all those guys. All right, so you've been here a while,
Speaker 1: this is not your first rodeo with the Bears. Retained
Speaker 1: promoted by Ryan Poles said you had an eye for talent. Uh.
Speaker 1: That's the best compliment you could give to somebody in
Speaker 1: your role, isn't it? Eye for talent? Yeah, saw value
Speaker 1: in players. I mean, these are big quotes. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's an important piece to this. Sure. Um, you know
Speaker 1: I had a lot of conversations mentors. You know, my
Speaker 1: time as a player certainly helps. Um. You know I
Speaker 1: talk about with young scouts all the time about developing
Speaker 1: the rolodex, and um, even though I wasn't a scout,
Speaker 1: you know, for nine years, all I did was watch
Speaker 1: other players, right, So, UM, I kind of knew what
Speaker 1: made them successful, what you know, what didn't make them successful?
Speaker 1: And Um, obviously when you transition to the personnel world,
Speaker 1: it's a little different. Um, but the basis of like
Speaker 1: how you watch tape and how you evaluate guys and
Speaker 1: what makes what makes them successful kind of stays the same. So, UM,
Speaker 1: I was lucky to have a decent career and lucky
Speaker 1: to have a lot of good relationships to tough football,
Speaker 1: you know, through that career as well. So um definitely
Speaker 1: helps me on this this end as well, being humble,
Speaker 1: being humbled the big guys being humble. One hundred and
Speaker 1: eight games in the NFL, that's uh, that's that's not
Speaker 1: not everybody gets that opportunity, obviously, but eighty four starts,
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty six catches, twelve touchdowns, and you
Speaker 1: had a game in two thousand and seven against the
Speaker 1: Colts targeted fourteen times, ten catches, eighty two yards all
Speaker 1: crere highs. What why that game? Because there was not
Speaker 1: another double digit It was a matchup. It was a matchup. Well,
Speaker 1: they were playing a lot of zone but now we
Speaker 1: kind of got into a little bit of no huddle
Speaker 1: on on the they were just check cover too, and
Speaker 1: we kind of just milked it down down the field
Speaker 1: a little bit. And I know you've there've been stories
Speaker 1: done about you, but you alluded to the people that
Speaker 1: have been had impressions on you that you were able
Speaker 1: to visit with as a player, and you know, you
Speaker 1: go to guys like Trent Kirshner or Seattle's VBP, Joe Shane,
Speaker 1: the Giants, gent Ryan Cowden down in Tennessee. Uh, you
Speaker 1: take the time to vision. Did you know you were
Speaker 1: going to do this? Um? Early on? It was probably
Speaker 1: in Carolina when I was with most of those guys there.
Speaker 1: They were all on staff. Um. You know, when I
Speaker 1: first got there. Joe was the national guy that was drafted,
Speaker 1: and Christ Kirschner was a pro scout and Colden was
Speaker 1: an area guy. So um. And you know, Marty did
Speaker 1: a great job of you Marty Herny. Yeah, you had
Speaker 1: always around the scouts and having conversations, and they were
Speaker 1: very open to have those conversations with you and just
Speaker 1: talk football, you know, talk players, talk building teams. And
Speaker 1: you know, the other fortunate part there too was I
Speaker 1: was drafted into a really veteran team. You know, Dan
Speaker 1: Hitting was the OC which has been around a long time.
Speaker 1: You know, Jake Delone, Chris Winky, Chris Mayingham, you know
Speaker 1: obviously the other great you know, there were a lot
Speaker 1: of great players on those teams. So being around all
Speaker 1: those guys when I was young was helpful, you know,
Speaker 1: because they they were willing to talk what they saw,
Speaker 1: what made them successful, what what made them good pros,
Speaker 1: you know, because if you go to a young team,
Speaker 1: like you don't have those same conversations with other players
Speaker 1: all the time. So, um, I was really lucky for
Speaker 1: that stamp. And you should have to develop your own philosophy,
Speaker 1: right because you could take everybody, but you you got
Speaker 1: to you gotta come up with your style and and
Speaker 1: substance in terms of being an evaluator. And I think
Speaker 1: too when you know, I wasn't a star player or
Speaker 1: anything like that. When you're a role player, right, like,
Speaker 1: you have to understand, like what's my value and how
Speaker 1: you maximize it? You have to buy into that, um,
Speaker 1: you know, because we all can't be star players in
Speaker 1: this lay. That's just not how it works. So, you know,
Speaker 1: carving out a niche, like you have to understand who
Speaker 1: you are as a player and then work to maximize that.
Speaker 1: I was lucky to get into a organization that kind
Speaker 1: of fostered that worked out of two in the gun
Speaker 1: trips to the right snap flexa is on pockets tight Bailey,
Speaker 1: Sandy intercepted Kind down the right side to Tony, then
Speaker 1: shut out a ball Kyler Gordon with his first NFL interception,
Speaker 1: hopefully one m anymore things are falling into hands. I'm
Speaker 1: an aggressive Bears defense tonight. Terrific interception by Kyler Gordon
Speaker 1: as the Bears rookie's heard from loud and proud in
Speaker 1: yesterday's win over the New England Patriots last night. Now
Speaker 1: it's Ounds of the Dallas Cowboys. You're on Bears Coaches Show,
Speaker 1: Jeff King, whole player, personnel director of the Bears, our guests.
Speaker 1: Let's talk more about Kyler man. It's never been too
Speaker 1: big for him, from the time he walked into this building.
Speaker 1: What he's learning, how he's his approach and man, he
Speaker 1: is eager, hungry, and dialed in right now. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's been a baptism by fire a little bit too right, Like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: in the nickel position in the NFL is not easy.
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta play the run, you gotta play
Speaker 1: the pass, you gotta you know, be at the point
Speaker 1: of attack, and a lot of bang bang situations. And
Speaker 1: I think the last couple of weeks he's been really close.
Speaker 1: I think he started to tackle really well in the
Speaker 1: New York game. Um, and that's carried over throughout the
Speaker 1: next couple of weeks, and then he's been really close
Speaker 1: to getting a peat. I n t he the tip.
Speaker 1: The first tip versus Thornton, he almost picked, uh, and
Speaker 1: then he ends up getting the pick later on. So
Speaker 1: you know, he's just gonna keep getting better. You know,
Speaker 1: he's made up of the right stuff. He practices hard,
Speaker 1: you see it. So it was good to see him
Speaker 1: finally get his hands on the ball. If it was
Speaker 1: anybody else again Stike on Thornton, he probably would have scored. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: caught him from behind. But he's got some juice to him.
Speaker 1: I got some wheels, you know. I did discuss this
Speaker 1: with general manager Ryan Poles before the game. The coaches
Speaker 1: did there at a self scout analysis, uh, and Ryan
Speaker 1: dipped in with a coordinator. You guys also did your
Speaker 1: own correct as as a personnel department, would you learn well?
Speaker 1: I just think that when you when you sit back
Speaker 1: and you look at, um, how guys are being played,
Speaker 1: how much they're being played, how much you can get
Speaker 1: other guys involved, spread it around. Um, you know, just
Speaker 1: this the fact that using Justin's legs as a weapon.
Speaker 1: You know, that's one thing, you know, simple thing that
Speaker 1: hey like you know you have an athletic quarterback, you
Speaker 1: want them to develop as a as a passer, absolutely,
Speaker 1: but you know, you can use his athleticism as a weapon, um,
Speaker 1: you know. And I think that we came out and
Speaker 1: did that, and you know that's going to lead to
Speaker 1: more success for him, right you know, because now guys
Speaker 1: are our teams are going to have to devote more
Speaker 1: people to the box and so he's gonna get one
Speaker 1: more one on one throws. Um. So I think just
Speaker 1: taking you know, a holistic approach and finding and putting
Speaker 1: guys where they can succeed and have a lot of success.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, having those conversations, not daily, but
Speaker 1: pretty consistently, I think that you know, over time, I
Speaker 1: think that you'll you'll be able to put guys in
Speaker 1: the right spots and have him produced. We're inching towards
Speaker 1: the end of October, and usually the ground game really
Speaker 1: starts to crank up when the weather turns right. But
Speaker 1: in my off base on this, the Bears alone are
Speaker 1: three two hundred plush yard rushing games already. But there's
Speaker 1: a lot of good rushing offenses right now. Is this
Speaker 1: trend is the sign of the times? You have eyes
Speaker 1: on the entire thirty one other teams as well. So
Speaker 1: what are you seeing and is that my imagination? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think today as it stands, where the leading rushing
Speaker 1: team number one in the league, the league. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think the in vogue way of playing defense right
Speaker 1: now is too shell make make teams go the long way. Well,
Speaker 1: if teams don't have the patience and they start getting greedy,
Speaker 1: and then that's when the picks come. But you know,
Speaker 1: if you can sit there and be patient, grind it
Speaker 1: out in the run game, and then you know, have
Speaker 1: sustained drives like now you're able to pile up yards
Speaker 1: and sort of like how it played out last night,
Speaker 1: you're able to stay on the field, which gives you
Speaker 1: more opportunities to score. Um. So I think what you're
Speaker 1: starting to see as teams starting to to vote to
Speaker 1: the run game a little bit more because the pass
Speaker 1: game and the explosives aren't there right now. So a
Speaker 1: little bit of it the trends and then you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of the two is you know, preseason, the offseason,
Speaker 1: like it takes a while for the passing game to
Speaker 1: heat up for a lot of these teams and offenses
Speaker 1: right now. And that's just the way, is what It
Speaker 1: is interesting look for sure. When it's time to tackle
Speaker 1: some top ranked values, just head out over to your
Speaker 1: local jewel Osco for a league leading lineup that's perfect
Speaker 1: for every second of the game day action. Here with
Speaker 1: Jeff King. So not only did you play college football
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech, you also played basketball. Understand you're a big
Speaker 1: fan of basketball growing up. I see the highlights of
Speaker 1: you played Duke against JJ Reddick and the fellas. You
Speaker 1: pulled the upset sixty seven sixty five. Seth Greenberg's your
Speaker 1: head coach, just some great names of the past. But
Speaker 1: you hit a nineteen footer, you were audition, you were rebounding.
Speaker 1: It was that your best game ever. So I we Yeah,
Speaker 1: my two best games in my career were against Duke. Ironically,
Speaker 1: um now, the backstory, like JJ Reddick and I went
Speaker 1: to rival high schools. Okay, he's a year behind me
Speaker 1: in school, but um so he beat me in UH
Speaker 1: in two state championship games. So your blood was up
Speaker 1: for that one. But if we split, we split in
Speaker 1: UH in college. So I'll take the I'll take the
Speaker 1: wins at the higher level. And then and playing for
Speaker 1: Frank Biemer, the legendary coach what was it like would
Speaker 1: you learn from him? And you know, twenty seven straight
Speaker 1: Bowl games before he retired, and such an emphasis on
Speaker 1: special teams, that is that tethered into your professional life
Speaker 1: now as you look at players. Yeah, and coach was unique,
Speaker 1: um in a lot of ways because he demanded a lot,
Speaker 1: but he was also fair um and he was he
Speaker 1: was he was. He always had his pulse on special team.
Speaker 1: So whether you were a starter, um, you know, first
Speaker 1: year or fourth year, you knew that you were going
Speaker 1: to be on special team. So he called punt pride,
Speaker 1: he called punt returned pride and joy. So he it
Speaker 1: was a staple of the program. I mean I remember, Um,
Speaker 1: when Dwayne Brown was still playing, he just switched over
Speaker 1: to tackle, but uh, Coach wouldn't take him off punt.
Speaker 1: So he's running down on punt with knee braces on
Speaker 1: number seventy six on because you know, he trusted him
Speaker 1: to be on punt. Um. And that's just how coach was.
Speaker 1: But um, but yeah, coach was. He was awesome. Like
Speaker 1: he was a local guy, went you know, his alma mater,
Speaker 1: like he heat breathed asleep Virginia tech Um. And so
Speaker 1: that made it easy for all of us to to
Speaker 1: buy in and be be you know, up in present.
Speaker 1: Every time he was called upon us to you know,
Speaker 1: to take that nice step. Well, we've had a lot
Speaker 1: of great influences and lucky to have you here in Chicago.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you for your time. That's gonna wrap
Speaker 1: us up for tonight's show. Got to thank our producers
Speaker 1: Keith Johnson, Andy gersher Dan Billy and Jordan Tredo for
Speaker 1: head coach Matt Eberflus and co player personnel director Jeff King.
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Joni. Each week eight kicks off at Arlington,
Speaker 1: Texas Bears Cowboys pregame at nine, kick off at noon.
Speaker 1: That'll do it for us. Thank you for listening, everybody.
Speaker 1: This is News Radio one oh five nine w BBUM.
Speaker 1: Good night, everybody,